Designed by HOMU ARQUITECTOS, the 237-square-metre apartment has been reshaped into a hybrid realm: part home, part studio; both refuge and creative stage. After more than fifty years living in the United States, the Chilean writer, essayist and photographer returned to Europe with a clear intention — to embrace the Mediterranean pace of life without losing the spatial openness and flow that had defined her American experience. The brief captured that duality: restore the original ceiling height, reinterpret the building’s historic mouldings, prioritise bright, open-plan living, maintain a strong visual connection to the tree-lined boulevard, and create a home that felt unmistakably personal.

Openness, by design
Despite its generous footprint, the layout is intentionally restrained: a primary suite with walk-in wardrobe, a small guest room for the granddaughters, and a large social area conceived for cooking, hosting and making. From the entrance, a vaulted corridor draws you towards the kitchen — filled with daylight and anchored by a substantial central island that naturally invites gathering. Here, the American idea of the kitchen as the heart of the home meets the Mediterranean art of unhurried conviviality.
The living spaces unfold through half-height partitions that preserve long sightlines and allow natural light to travel freely, while still shaping distinct moods within the same open plan. At the centre, the dining table becomes the home’s gravitational point; nearby, a more intimate nook offers pause and privacy. The work area is seamlessly woven into the social spaces, culminating in Emma’s private office, marked by reclaimed doors restored by the studio.

The aesthetic language is refined, yet never austere. A soft palette of pale and neutral tones acts like a blank page, allowing artworks, personal objects and decades of collected memories to take the lead. The installation of a new climate-control system required rebuilding the suspended ceiling - an intervention that became an opportunity to increase ceiling height and introduce contemporary-scale mouldings, integrated into bespoke joinery.
A continuous ash-grey porcelain floor strengthens the sense of calm and cohesion, while salvaged doors and reclaimed stone basins add texture and a sense of lived history. Lighting is discreet and supportive, designed to enhance the natural light that truly defines the project.
More than a renovation, this home reflects a turning point. It is a space where architecture and memory are inseparable, where Mediterranean sensitivity welcomes American spatial freedom, and where design is placed, with precision and care, in the service of creativity and everyday life.